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    Where to shop for sports gear at Jungceylon Phuket

    Phuket might be known for its beaches and nightlife, but the island also has a thriving fitness culture. From Muay Thai gyms to beach runs at sunrise, staying active is part of daily life for many who live here (as...

  • Motorbike rental passport leads to Phuket arrest of Spanish nunchuk mugger | Thaiger

    Motorbike rental passport leads to Phuket arrest of Spanish nunchuk mugger

    PHUKET: A passport left as collateral for a motorbike rental has led to the arrest of a Spaniard for the nunchuk mugging of a Russian in Kata early yesterday morning. Karon Police arrested Spanish tourist Mario Arturo Tovar Ferras, 23, at the Bonus Bungalow resort in Soi Ta-iad, Chalong, at about 7:30pm last night. “Police seized a motorbike, a seven-inch…

  • Phuket Gazette World News: Pro-Moscow protesters declare republic, Kiev fears invasion | Thaiger

    Phuket Gazette World News: Pro-Moscow protesters declare republic, Kiev fears invasion

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Pro-Moscow protesters declare republic, Kiev fears invasion Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Pro-Moscow protesters in eastern Ukraine seized arms in one city and declared a separatist republic in another, in moves Kiev described on Monday as part of a Russian-orchestrated plan to justify an invasion to…

  • Phuket Gazette World News: Search for missing Malaysia jet set to move to sea floor | Thaiger

    Phuket Gazette World News: Search for missing Malaysia jet set to move to sea floor

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Search for missing Malaysia jet set to move to sea floor Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A robotic search vehicle is likely to be sent deep into the Indian Ocean on Tuesday to look for wreckage of a missing Malaysian jetliner on the sea floor, as…

  • Phuket Gazette Thailand News: South alert after blasts; Army targets 4 triggers; PDRC denies coup; Killer claims gold | Thaiger

    Phuket Gazette Thailand News: South alert after blasts; Army targets 4 triggers; PDRC denies coup; Killer claims gold

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community South on alert after deadly bombings The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Security has been beefed up in the restive deep South ahead of the long Songkran holiday next week, following destructive bombing attacks in Yala over the past two days. Yesterday’s bomb explosion at a…

  • Phuket Gazette World News: Pistorius retches during graphic forensic testimony | Thaiger

    Phuket Gazette World News: Pistorius retches during graphic forensic testimony

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Pistorius retches during graphic forensic testimony Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: South African track star Oscar Pistorius wept and retched into a bucket in court on Monday during graphic forensic testimony about the death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, whom he is accused of murdering on…

  • Phuket Airport taxi driver faces inquest for drunk nap behind the wheel | Thaiger

    Phuket Airport taxi driver faces inquest for drunk nap behind the wheel

    PHUKET: The Phuket Airport taxi driver who was found asleep behind the wheel and smelling of alcohol early yesterday morning will be called in for questioning by the Phuket Land Transportation Office (PLTO). The news follows Thalang Police being called to Baan Lipon, between Thalang Town and the Heroines Monument, at 5:30am to find a registered taxi pulled over in…

  • Phuket Gazette World News: Actor Mickey Rooney dies at 93 | Thaiger

    Phuket Gazette World News: Actor Mickey Rooney dies at 93

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Actor Mickey Rooney, brash star of 1930s and ’40s, dies at 93 Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Actor Mickey Rooney, who became the United States’ biggest movie star while still a brash teenager in the 1930s and later a versatile character actor in a career that…

  • Phuket Gazette World News: Syria’s Assad secure, will seek re-election, says Hezbollah leader | Thaiger

    Phuket Gazette World News: Syria’s Assad secure, will seek re-election, says Hezbollah leader

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Syria’s Assad secure, will seek re-election, says Hezbollah leader Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will stand for re-election this year and no longer faces a threat of being overthrown, the head of his Lebanese Shi’ite ally Hezbollah said in an interview published…

  • Phuket Gazette World News: Australia says new ‘pings’ best lead yet in Malaysia jet search | Thaiger

    Phuket Gazette World News: Australia says new ‘pings’ best lead yet in Malaysia jet search

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Australia says new ‘pings’ best lead yet in Malaysia jet search Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: An Australian ship searching for a missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner has picked up signals consistent with the beacons from aircraft black box recorders, in what search officials said on Monday…

  • Phuket Business Development Office holds Foreign Business Act seminar in English for the first time | Thaiger

    Phuket Business Development Office holds Foreign Business Act seminar in English for the first time

    PHUKET: The Phuket Business Development Office (BDO) has announced that it will be hosting a seminar aimed at educating foreign business operators about the provisions of Thailand’s Foreign Business Act B.E. 2542. Topics addressed during the seminar will include whether it is necessary to set up a company to do business in the Kingdom, avoiding red tape and issues surrounding…

  • Phuket Gazette World News: Pro-Russia protesters raid Ukraine building, seize weapons | Thaiger

    Phuket Gazette World News: Pro-Russia protesters raid Ukraine building, seize weapons

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Pro-Russia protesters raid Ukraine building, seize weapons Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Pro-Russian protesters who broke into state security headquarters in the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk have seized weapons, and highway police have closed down entrances into the city, local police said on Monday. Mainly…

  • Phuket official loses B4mn Benz in chicken run wipeout | Thaiger

    Phuket official loses B4mn Benz in chicken run wipeout

    PHUKET: A six-wheeled truck hauling a battery of chickens bound for Krabi crushed a brand-new, 4-million-baht Mercedes-Benz belonging to a local official in Mai Khao, in the north of Phuket, on Saturday. The accident took place at 11am on Thepkrassatri Road northbound, about 300 meters from the entrance to Sai Kaew Beach. “I came to check on a construction site,”…

  • Road death inaction sparks blockade of Phuket police station | Thaiger

    Road death inaction sparks blockade of Phuket police station

    PHUKET: The angry son of a man killed in a road accident at Chalong Circle eight months ago this morning staged a blockade of Chalong Police Station, accusing officers of supporting murder. The man parked his minivan along with two other vehicles at the entrance of the station, preventing anyone from getting in and out. Posters were plastered over billboards…

  • Phuket FC slaughter BKK Iron Bulls | Thaiger

    Phuket FC slaughter BKK Iron Bulls

    PHUKET: As the Phuket FC Ronins sharpened their blades in preparation for their battle against the Bangkok FC Iron Bulls last Saturday, nearly 5,000 fired-up fans braved the roads to Surakul Stadium under unsettled skies. Fans were on their feet from the beginning, cheering on their hometown team, and jeering at the Iron Bulls. They had two reasons for their…

  • Minor Group’s 5-billion baht Phuket investment | Thaiger

    Minor Group’s 5-billion baht Phuket investment

    PHUKET: Investment confidence on the resort island of Phuket has continued to ramp up in 2014 despite the Bangkok political crisis. The launch of fifteen ultra luxury villas on the prime west coast by the Thai-listed group Minor International PLC is at the forefront of the upscale movement. Tagged as The Residences by Anantara Layan, the villas range from four…

  • Stabbing in Phuket attributed to red-shirt, PDRC divide | Thaiger

    Stabbing in Phuket attributed to red-shirt, PDRC divide

    PHUKET: An argument over the political divisions being played out in Bangkok ended with a red-shirt supporter from Isarn, Northeastern Thailand, stabbing two Southern Thai fruit vendors in Patong on Saturday night. One eyewitness told the Phuket Gazette that the argument erupted while seven vendors – who all sell fruit on Patong Beach for the same employer – were drinking…

  • Phuket Gazette Thailand News: NSC fears Bangkok street battles; Bombs rock Yala; Son hires hit on parents | Thaiger

    Phuket Gazette Thailand News: NSC fears Bangkok street battles; Bombs rock Yala; Son hires hit on parents

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community NSC fears civil strife if protesters take to the streets The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The National Security Council (NSC) is not confident that it will be able to fully control civil unrest when anti-government and pro-government demonstrators take to the streets. “With so many…

  • Phuket to be “unaffected’ during 28-day power disruptions | Thaiger

    Phuket to be “unaffected’ during 28-day power disruptions

    The Provincial Energy Office has assured that Phuket and other tourism provinces along the Andaman coast will remain unaffected as a major natural gas supply line that feeds the national grid goes offline for 28 days in June and July. The news follows the announcement that the supply of natural gas from field A-18 in the Joint Development Area (JDA)…

  • Phuket Gazette World News: Chinese, Australian ships try to verify potential ‘pings’ from Malaysia jet | Thaiger

    Phuket Gazette World News: Chinese, Australian ships try to verify potential ‘pings’ from Malaysia jet

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Chinese, Australian ships try to verify potential ‘pings’ from Malaysia jet Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Chinese and Australian ships hunting for a missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner have picked up separate acoustic signals in different parts of a vast Indian Ocean search area and are trying…

  • Officials stunned as B15bn Andaman Bridge rumors resurface | Thaiger

    Officials stunned as B15bn Andaman Bridge rumors resurface

    PHUKET: A stunned Governor of Satun Province has denounced reports that plans were afoot to build a four-lane motorway over the Andaman Sea to join Satun Town in Southern Thailand with Perlis in northwestern Malaysia. Governor Nuachai Jiraapirak dispelled the rumors this week after news reports began circulating online early last month, unofficially calling the supposed joint Thailand-Malaysia initiative the…

  • Kidnapped Russian leaves Phuket | Thaiger

    Kidnapped Russian leaves Phuket

    PHUKET: The Russian kidnapping victim who was recovered alive, Iana Strizheus, caught a flight from Phuket back to Russia last night. “She has given her statement to police and been presented to the judge. Therefore, she is free to go home,” Phuket Provincial Police Deputy Commander Arun Kaewvatee told the Phuket Gazette this morning. “This changes nothing for our investigation.”…

  • 3,000 police, troops for red rally in Bangkok | Thaiger

    3,000 police, troops for red rally in Bangkok

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community 3,000 police and troops for red rally Phuket Gazette / The Nation PHUKET: More than 3,000 policemen and soldiers will be dispatched to take care of the pro-government red shirts’ mass rally near Bangkok today amid increasing concern there could be clashes between pro- and anti-government…

  • 10-year-old on life support after Phuket motorbike crash | Thaiger

    10-year-old on life support after Phuket motorbike crash

    PHUKET: A 10-year-old girl is unresponsive and on life support at Vachira Phuket Hospital after a motorbike accident on Thepkrasattri Road in Koh Kaew on Thursday. Rattanawadee Tukthin was returning home from Big C on a motorbike driven by her sister, Anjira Tukthin, 17, when the pair crashed into a utility pole. “Ms Anjira is recovering in hospital after receiving…

  • Men fire on Phuket armored van transporting B10mn, then flee as van gives chase | Thaiger

    Men fire on Phuket armored van transporting B10mn, then flee as van gives chase

    PHUKET: Three suspects who opened fire on an armored van carrying 10 million baht yesterday afternoon were chased down by the van driver, but managed to escape. The van had left Tesco Lotus in Phuket Town and was northbound on Thepkrasattri Road, headed to refill ATMs in Bang Tao and at the Phuket International Airport when the men fired on…

  • Safeguarding health in a shifting populace | Thaiger

    Safeguarding health in a shifting populace

    Kajohnsak Kaewjarus, 49, took up the position of chief of the Phuket Provincial Health Office on October 1 last year. Phang Nga born and raised, Dr Kajohnsak graduated from Mahidol University with a master’s degree in general surgery. Here, he talks about Phuket’s top health concerns and gives his prognosis on how to treat them. PHUKET: After spending only a…

  • Essence of life endangered in Phuket | Thaiger

    Essence of life endangered in Phuket

    PHUKET: It is sad, but not surprising, that it took a recent public intervention to finally stop a well-known local Phuket businessman from backfilling an important water storage reservoir on the island. Given our nation’s growing reputation internationally as a hotspot for protests, it is difficult to fathom why so few demonstrations on the island are ever fomented by the…

  • Rescuer recovering from fumes that killed Phuket sewer workers last week | Thaiger

    Rescuer recovering from fumes that killed Phuket sewer workers last week

    PHUKET: The rescue worker who passed out while attempting to save four workers who died in a Phuket Town sewer on March 26 is recovering in the hospital and will be discharged in a week. Jessada Janpen, 25, was one of the first to arrive on the scene, and immediately descended into the sewer to rescue the maintenance workers. Although…

  • Video Report: Phuket crepe maker meets the stranger who saved him from sharks | Thaiger

    Video Report: Phuket crepe maker meets the stranger who saved him from sharks

    PHUKET: It was an emotional meeting last week between the man who lost his only source of livelihood – a sidecar outfitted to make crepes – and the New Zealand woman who gave him the money he needed to avoid borrowing cash from loan sharks to buy a new one. Crepe vendor Prayoon Impuang, whose sidecar was consumed by flames…

  • Phuket Marine Police volunteers’ numbers swell ahead of Songkran | Thaiger

    Phuket Marine Police volunteers’ numbers swell ahead of Songkran

    PHUKET: The Phuket Marine Police have garnered 97 trained volunteers to bolster their ranks ahead of the Songkran Festival. “Boat captains, crews and tour guides were called to join in safety-training seminars and volunteer to support the Marine Police, as they are the ones who have the best chance of rescuing people in the water,” Phuket Marine Police Superintendent Pumin…

  • Another Phuket workplace fatality: Shrimp farm worker found dead in boat | Thaiger

    Another Phuket workplace fatality: Shrimp farm worker found dead in boat

    PHUKET: A Myanmar national was found dead this afternoon at the Sri Soonthorn shrimp farm where he worked, marking the fifth work-related death within two weeks in Phuket. The body of Nyi Paing, 25, was found on a boat in one of the farm’s ponds by a co-worker after he did not return from his morning work routine, Lt Col…